Metroville
by csyphrett
Summary: Colonel Bragg's siege forces him between a rock and a hard place when the city he has surrounded is attacked by forces from another place.


Metroville

Colonel Braxton Bragg looked over his post from the height granted by the shoulder of the Enforcer robot he used as his command vehicle. His men moved with purpose. Vehicles and armor were positioned to shoot at the target in the center of the ring of steel he had thrown up.

No one fired. Everyone was ready to fight, but Bragg had ordered a siege after the first attack had ended in destruction for most of his armor and a warning had been issued in the air by a glowing symbol in the sky.

None of the buildings in the new city had been touched by the fighting as far as he could tell.

He didn't know what the response would have been if his men had hit one of the buildings with their energy weapons and missiles. He had a feeling he didn't want to find out.

He contemplated the city and thought about the orders that had brought him here.

A city had appeared in the middle of nowhere. Nothing uncommon about that. Whole peoples had been transplanted to the Earth from the various Ley storms that roared along opening gates to anywhere. Things had settled down, but monsters and inhuman creatures still showed up that needed to be stamped out.

The city, Metroville, had landed close to the Coalition held territories. Chi-Town had ordered Bragg's division to take it over, clamp down on any civilian population, kill anything not human enough, burn anything that wasn't useful to their science division.

The initial assault seemed easy enough to do. A wall surrounded the towers, but there was an absence of weapons pointing away from the city. The plan was a flyover with Samas and bombers to soften the target while giant bots like his Enforcer and mobile artillery pieces punched holes in the walls for ground forces to swarm in and take the city block by block.

Anti-magic forces were to be moved in as quick as possible to shut down a magic response to the invasion.

Everything went wrong as soon as the first Samas pilot fired his railgun at a target over the wall.

A wall made of the same repeating symbol of a cross with a loop at the top leaped into existence to protect the city. The railgun bullet was stopped cold by the field.

Bragg ordered his armor to attack. The combined firepower should have punched a hole through the wall at ground level with his psychics trying to suppress the magic with their minds.

Something resembling a pink blur came out of the city and his vehicles turned into debris as he watched. His own Enforcer had an arm ripped off and used to trip the giant robot.

"WE DON'T WANT TO FIGHT, BUT WE WILL DESTROY ANY FORCE THAT ATTACKS THE CITY," said a voice in the air. "THIS IS THE ONLY WARNING YOU WILL GET."

After that, Bragg pulled back to ring the city with replacements for his division. He had requested more troops to fill out the living wall he was constructing. Engineers had been flown in to design a barricade to keep the city residents from leaving, and any forces inimical to the Coalition outpost out.

Samas flew day and night to keep flying machines from the city so it couldn't get supplies flown over the wall.

The problem was the city was built on a nexus point and the occasional storm attracted monsters to the area. His psychics and dog boys were kept busy running down predators while the regiment kept an eye on the city.

The first time a giant monster appeared, Bragg had readied to fight. Another giant from inside the city killed it and took it into the sky after a fierce battle. The colonel had been glad to stand down, but requested more armor in case another one showed up.

The situation had stabilized for the last few months. People were getting into the city, trading and leaving, and slipping away through the lines. Some settled down inside. He had managed to get in two spies who sent reports on what was going on. They painted a picture of a populace ready to fight for what they had, but growing their own food and helping their neighbors. Troublemakers and predators who slipped inside the city were hunted down and dealt with ruthlessly. A dragon terrorizing some of the local ranchers was found with a hole where the front of its skull should be.

Bragg wondered what they had that could kill a dragon with one punch. That would be great for the Coalition if it was a weapon they could take from the city.

The Battle of Metroville started with Bragg ruminating on what had gone on before and what he could do to carry out his orders. His superiors had read and seen everything he had sent. They still wanted him to crush this city somehow, and kill its leaders.

They had the luxury of living in Chi-Town, and didn't care how many of his men they wanted him to sacrifice.

He heard Dog Boys howling and looked around. What was going on?

"This is Metro One to Pack One," he said into his helmet radio. "What's going on?"

"The packs are picking up a heavy influx of magic energy coming down the pike," said Pack One, a psi-stalker named Kolchak. "Pack leaders and Auxiliaries are reporting danger signals."

Bragg heard a bell ringing over the camp. He knew that sound. He had heard it when the giant had appeared to attack the city.

Metroville was going into emergency mode.

"This is Metro One to all units," said Bragg. "Mount up. Launch air elements. Get ready to repel the enemy. I repeat get ready to engage."

Everywhere he looked men rushed to get to their machines so they could fight. Crews not on rotation grabbed armor and weapons to suit up and defend themselves. One of his psychics caught fire to power up.

"Message from Geddis," reported Sgt. Harridan. "Should I read it in the clear?"

"Go ahead, Sergeant." Bragg climbed into his machine, hitting switches to power it up.

"ALARM SOUNDED. STOP. CIVILIANS URGED TO SHELTER. STOP. BATTLESTATIONS. STOP. DIMENSIONAL FORCE INVADING. STOP." Harridan made a sound at the end. "Dimensional force invading?"

"And it's big enough to worry Metroville," said Bragg. "All units brace for attack. Kill anything that comes through a rift."

Lightning played in the air. Holes opened above the encampment. Holes opened at ground level. Then soldiers appeared. Everyone paused because the two armies hadn't expected to meet each other.

Bragg was quicker off the mark than his counterpart on the other side.

"Fire!," he ordered through the net. He triggered the miniature missile system in the torso of his robot. Ground troops flew from the impact. Energy weapons burned the air as the armies exchanged fire.

"Star Fox is go," sounded over the net. A squadron of four jet fighters joined the CS elements in the air. Enemy fighters and troop ships blew apart under weapons fire. "We're clearing the air. Coalition elements look for stragglers."

A pink stripe joined the fighters. The invaders suffered equipment losses as their aircraft came apart under the flying thing's touch.

"Metro One," said Harridan over the net. "A giant monster is coming through the biggest rift. Forward elements are sending reports. They are engaging, trying to keep it on the other side of the rift."

"Fox One," said the lead pilot for Star Fox. "Commencing giant bombing run."

Bragg used his rail gun on a low flying transport. It flew overhead as enemy fire from ground forces chewed on his robot's legs. He dropped a rocket on that patch of the enemy with a satisfying thump.

His troops were surrounded with most of the armor pointing the wrong way. At least the robots were able to turn around to support the ground troops. Air cover was engaged with the enemy. Whomever cleared the sky first had the advantage.

Star Fox's planes cleared a firing lane for their leader as he shot three spherical torpedoes into the biggest rift. The overriding flashes blinded anyone without eye protection.

"This is Metro One," said Bragg. "Clear enemy forces as fast as you can."

"We have negative impact here," said Fox One. He pulled away from the rift instead of flying through to the other side. "I repeat the target is still coming."

"All CS elements, concentrate fire into the rift," ordered Bragg. "Do not let that thing through."

He punched an enemy troop cart while firing all of the missiles in his shoulder launchers. He didn't worry if they were on target. Any damage done to the other side of the rift was good.

Metroville stood inside the ring on two legs made of conglomerated buildings. It flexed arms, as fists formed. A humanoid face rose from the chest of the thing.

The silver and red giant appeared beside the robotic city. Glowing eyes regarded the rift as he fell into a fighting stance.

A giant thing three hundred feet tall came through the rift, pulling itself with its front legs. The face resembled a bat's. Its skin was gray and leprous looking. Something fell off of it and attacked some of the nearby Coalition troops until they put it down with laser fire.

Metroville opened fire with hundreds of kinetic and energy weapons on the giant beast as it rushed toward the transformed city. The giant tried to get in the way, but he was brushed aside. He had to leap so he didn't fall on top of the forces still fighting on the ground.

Bragg slumped in his control chair. How did they fight something like that. It ignored their firepower easily. He didn't see any way to stop it from killing all of his forces unless he called for a withdrawal.

Some of his men were still fighting. He idly watched lasers and missiles being poured into the thing. He couldn't give up. There had to be a way to kill that thing.

A bald man appeared on the shoulder of the city robot. His cape whipped in the wind. He leaped at the monster, swinging his fist at the creature's head. The monster flipped over and lay dead after it hit the ground.

Bragg let out a cheer. The tide had been turned instantly. He ordered a search for survivors as the rifts closed on the invaders' home. Technically he had helped the enemy, but he was sure his report would not reflect that at all.


End file.
